Tapia Expects To Show What Roach Has Taught Him

By Keith Idec

Glen Tapia admits he was hard-headed sometimes when Freddie Roach began training him nearly 11 months ago at Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club.

Old habits are tough to break, but Tapia has made many of the style adjustments Roach suggested because he trusts Roach completely. While he loves entertaining fans, the Passaic, N.J., native understands more boxing and less brawling will help him become more successful against formidable fighters and last longer in this brutal business.

The junior middleweight intends to display all that Roach has taught him Saturday in Macau, China, where Tapia (22-1, 14 KOs) will square off against Australia’s Daniel Dawson (40-4-1, 26 KOs) in a 10-round, 154-pound NABO title fight HBO2 will televise as part of delayed broadcast scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET. Dawson is 37, but is by far the 25-year-old Tapia’s toughest opponent since suffering his lone professional loss, a sixth-round technical knockout against hard-hitting James Kirkland 15 months ago in Atlantic City.

“Freddie has taught me patience,” Tapia said. “He has shown me that I don’t have to look for the knockout so much, that it just comes. Now that I’ve got that through my head, I’m using my brain, instead of just fighting with my heart so much. I’m in there thinking more and I’m hurting guys. I’m learning you don’t have to just brawl to entertain. I can box. People haven’t seen a lot of that from me, but I’m going to show them.”

Tapia has won both of his fights since the Kirkland loss by technical knockout. His opponents were overmatched, however, and scheduling conflicts caused Roach to miss those victories over Chicago’s Donatas Bondorovas (18-6-1, 6 KOs) and Keenan Collins (15-9-3, 10 KOs, 1 NC), of York, Pa., last year. Roach’s assistant, Marvin Somodio, worked Tapia’s corner those two nights, but Roach is looking forward to guiding Tapia through Saturday’s fight in person.

“I’d like him to box really well with this guy,” Roach said. “Glen has great power, but if he works behind his jab he should have a lot easier time with this guy. [Dawson is] a veteran. Experience is sometimes tough to deal with, but I think Glen’s ready for it.”

Tapia realizes it’s imperative to win this fight impressively, not just win against a seasoned contender who has faced a higher level of opposition than him.

Dawson dropped Austin Trout twice in his last bout, but Trout recovered, floored Dawson and won a 10-round unanimous decision in an ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights” main event Aug. 22 in Temecula, Calif.

Dawson previously lost to former WBO junior middleweight champ Serhiy Dzinziruk (37-2-1, 24 KOs), who stopped Dawson in the 10th round, and ex-IBF middleweight champ Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs), who defeated Dawson by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder.

“I’ve got something to prove in this fight,” Tapia said. “I want to show the people at HBO that I’m entertaining and that I can box. I want them to want me back on HBO. And I want to show the whole boxing world that I’m an elite fighter, that I’m not just a B-level fighter, that I’m an A-level fighter and I’m here to stay. I’m going to show them by actions, not just words.”

The Tapia-Dawson fight at Venetian Macau will precede a 12-round bout between IBF flyweight champ Amnat Ruenroeng (14-0, 5 KOs), of Thailand, and Chinese challenger Zou Shiming (6-0, 1 KO), who’s also trained by Roach.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.